Revolutionary Networks: The Business of Printing the News, 1763–1789.

As they developed their own businesses, aspiring printers were forced to be entrepreneurial and to move into new markets in which to open up new shops, as most early American towns lacked the commercial or subscriber base to support multiple printers. Some of these printers were the kind of heroic Patriots that have often been recalled, but many others were Loyalists, whom Adelman estimates "formed a significant minority of the entire trade" (126) in the prerevolutionary period. Printers who succeeded in creating successful and sustainable businesses, Adelman argues, were those who could best adapt to changing circumstances and retain contacts with politically relevant social groups ... Therefore, printers portrayed themselves publicly as agents of the public, providing a service to the community. [Extracted from the article]